The present invention generally relates to combustion apparatuses and more particularly, to a combustion apparatus including a combustion apparatus housing having an opening formed at a front portion thereof, a combustion tube provided in the opening, and a top plate provided above the combustion tube.
Conventionally, in combustion-apparatus of the above described type, it has been so arranged that heating is performed through utilization of combustion gas and radiant heat emitted from the combustion tube in the opening formed at the front portion of the combustion apparatus housing. However, in the prior art combustion apparatus, as shown in FIG. 1, the high-temperature combustion gas discharged from a combustion tube 31 initially ascends vertically therefrom and then, comes into contact with a top plate 32 so as to be carried forwardly of the top plate 32 as indicated by the arrow H. Accordingly, in the known combustion apparatus, there is such a danger that since the temperature of the top plate 32 rises extremely, the user gets burnt through inadvertent touching with the heated top plate 32.
In order to lessen the danger referred to above, there has been proposed a combustion apparatus in which a heat shielding plate 33 is provided below the top plate 32 as shown in the one-dot chain lines in FIG. 1 so as to prevent the temperature of the top plate 32 from rising exceedingly. However, even in this known combustion apparatus, such a disadvantage still exists that since the combustion gas flowing out of a front end 32a of the top plate 32 heats the front end 32a, the user gets burned by the heated front end 32a. Furthermore, in the prior art combustion apparatus, there is the inconvenience that since air trapped in a space T defined between the top plate 32 and the heat shielding plate 33 is gradually heated to a high temperature when the prior art combustion apparatus is used continuously for a long time, the top plate 32 is also heated to a high temperature with the result that the user gets burnt by the heated top plate 32.